Padfoot Was Innocent
by Tresa Cho
Summary: The scene from the Shreiking Shack told through Lupin's point of view. Just a small dapple in different art forms. Hints of slash.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer- Every single bit of dialogue is taken directly from JK Rowling's book- The Prisoner of Azkaban, pgs 343-380. This was just a little dabble into a different form of fanficcing. Please don't flame, as it was my first attempt at this particular sort of art. Hints of Wolfstar scattered about.

Night was attempting to take over the classroom, creeping in slowly through the windows to his right, and cascading its bleakness across the many desks and chairs that filled the room. Teaching was exactly his niche, he had decided. Unfortunately, there was little hope of ever retaining a constant teaching job with his condition, but he could always hope that Dumbledore would be able to provide him with something.

Tiny dots moved about the paper in his hands- students and teachers going about their nightly business. Dumbledore pacing in his office as usual- hasn't changed a bit. Though last Remus had seen him, Dumbledore paced in more than just his office. It was his one way of showing the weight he carried on his elderly shoulders. Snivellus- no, _Severus_- was walking along his corridor towards his office. Peeves was causing some sort of mayhem on the third floor, and Filch was loping near at a generous speed.

The dots Remus focused his eyes on, however, were three dots that stood outside the castle. They meandered on the grounds, rushing to Hagrid's house. Labeled _Harry Potter_, _Ronald Weasely_, and _Hermione Granger_, they stopped for a moment at Hagrid's and then proceeded to enter the house, where they disappeared.

"Just like his father," Remus murmured softly, a small grin touching his lips. Hagrid's pet was scheduled to be executed that night, and he knew Harry would try to go to his overlarge friend. It was something James would have done… Remus figured that with Padfoot- no, _Black_- on the loose, his safest bet would be to watch the Map. He knew he wouldn't be able to stop Harry, but the Map allowed him to keep an eye on the child even though Remus sat in the castle and Harry walked the grounds.

Now quite finished cleaning up for the day, he cast a smile at the several creatures hidden in the shadows creeping over the room and picked up the Map. He exited the classroom and watched in amusement as the dot labeled _Remus Lupin_ walked from the classroom and into its office. He remembered clearly the day they had made the map. Sometime in their sixth year, when it had become slightly dangerous to wander around without the Invisibility Cloak. It was much easier to keep one eye on the Map and another on one's wand. Recently back from a trip to Hogsmeade, James and Sirius had come into possession of a box of Zonko's magic crayons. With Remus to provide the charms, and Wormtail to provide the distraction (accidentally lighting the paper on fire while trying to draw the Forbidden Forest), James and Sirius managed to create the Mischief-Makers' dream.

Still, it was no use living in the past. Ever since Remus had taken the Map from Harry, memories of better days kept flitting past his eyelids, haunting his waking hours and torturing his dreams with images of their faces- all of them. Padfoot, Prongs, Wormtail, Lily. He had lost _everyone_ that day, everyone whom he had loved dearly. Even now, sitting in the increasing gloom of his office, his head pounded with the ache they had torn open within him. Padfoot… The pain was still fresh, as if he had just learned yesterday that Black had killed James and Lily.

Tipping his head down, he allowed himself one small moment of grief for those he lost that day. The people who had made his life worth living… killed by the one he had lived for… Gripping a hand through already-graying hair, he let his breath catch in his throat but refused to cry. James would not have wanted him to cry, not this long after the fact, and James had made him strong. James had made all of them strong, even poor Peter…

Inhaling deeply, he released his hair and looked at the Map. Harry, Hermione, and Ron were moving again, back towards the castle now. For a moment, Remus thought his mind was playing tricks on him. Tailing along with Ron was another name- _Peter Pettigrew_. Remus blinked and frowned viciously at the Map, drawing his wand from his robes.

No. It couldn't be. Peter was dead. Padfo- _Black_ had killed him. Years ago. There was no way he was traveling with Ron and Harry. Unless… _No_. It just couldn't be. The Map was mistaken. Something was wrong with it.

Just as he was about to start prodding it with his wand, another black dot came up quickly upon Harry and Ron, knocking into Ron and bounding away with the _Ron_ dot in tow. The name over that dot was even more disturbing.

"_Sirius_…" the name sounded awful on his lips, from years out of use. Saying the name only brought unbearable pain to Remus, so he said it little. Impossible. Black and Peter? Black had killed Peter- viciously, brutally. Why was the Map forcing so much agony on him? It must be malfunctioning…

But the Map was made to never lie. Neither Invisibility nor Animagi could slip past its traces. But if Peter was alive… then that meant Sirius had not killed him…

And that meant…

Eyes wide, Remus shoved his wand into his pocket, knowing full well where Sirius had dragged poor Ron. Map lying forgotten on his desk, he bolted from his office, heart thudding painfully against his ribs. Peter was alive. Sirius had not killed him…


	2. Chapter 2

The Shack was as eerily silent as always when he entered. Though occasional muffled voices and scuffling of feet from the top floor hinted that Harry and his friends were in the building, the deadened wood silenced noises quite efficiently. Hopefully, it would work the other way also. They would not hear him coming until he was on them. He didn't know what he would do when he saw Sirius again. He wasn't sure if he could trust himself.

He crept up the stairs, as silent as he could move while trailing his robe through the dusty floor. The voices were becoming clearer, and shouting could be heard. Then, all fell silent. Remus, so startled at the abrupt decline of muttering noises, tripped and clanged hard against a few of the stairs.

Instantly, he heard Hermione Granger's voice ring out quite shrilly, "WE'RE UP HERE! WE'RE UP HERE- SIRIUS BLACK- _QUICK_!"

Knowing he could no longer sneak in, he bolted the last few stairs, ignoring the twinge in his leg that signaled a bruise forming. Nearly breaking down the door upon entering, he saw a most disturbing sight. The Weasely child was on the floor, bleeding from a wound on his leg. Miss Granger was standing over him, but Harry had his wand poised over Sirius' chest, ready for the kill.

Eleven years of pure instinct had not faded amidst thirteen years of anguish.

"_Expelliarmus_!" Remus shouted, before he had even realized what he had said. Harry's wand flew neatly into his hand, and he gripped it tightly, still feeling the warmth that Harry had- the hatred that had nearly killed Sirius… Hermione's and Ron's also zoomed over, settling themselves neatly next to Harry's. But… Now that he was in the room, Peter was nowhere to be seen. "Where is he, Sirius?" Remus asked curtly, trying not to betray any emotion.

Once-strong fingers pointed directly at the Weasely child, and Remus remembered Ron had a pet _rat_. If it was Wormtail… "But then…" he was quite aware that he was muttering to himself, his mind was working so quickly, and Sirius' brown eyes never left him. If Peter had been forced to hide for nearly thirteen years… more over the fact that he was still alive… "… why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless-" he felt his eyes go wide. If Sirius had not killed Peter, then Sirius was innocent. And if Sirius was innocent, then the only other person who could have known where Lily and James had been was… "- unless he was the one… unless you switched… without telling me?" Wormtail had been the Secret-Keeper. He had given Lily and James away. And _Sirius_ had paid for his crime…

Sirius had caught the last bit of his ramble, from experience when they were younger. Once started, Remus rarely slowed down until he reached a conclusion. Fully held by Sirius' gaze, Remus felt himself losing everything. Years of agony, over a decade of wandering alone on the continent… When Sirius finally nodded, it all vanished.

He barely heard Harry speaking up, as he strode across the floor and extended a hand to Padfoot. His mind was buzzing with the possibilities of what had happened that horrible night- the night all of them had died with James. Without the slightest hesitation, Padfoot took his hand and allowed Remus to yank him to his feet. And then, Padfoot's arms were around him. They were thin, unnaturally so, and Remus felt his throat close up as he thought about it. He enclosed Padfoot's chest tightly, vowing never to let anything come between them again. Not after this… It was too much to bear…

"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" Hermione screamed. "You- you-"

Remus snapped out of Padfoot's embrace, and faced his student, hoping that his voice would not fail him, "Hermione-"

The girl was quite hysterical, "-you and him!"

"Hermione, calm down-" he tried to stop her, but was too aware of Padfoot standing so close to him. He was innocent. It was like a mantra that ran through his mind, second after second. _He was innocent_. He didn't do it. _He didn't kill James_…

"I didn't tell anyone!" Hermione shrieked. "I've been covering up for you-"

Only then did he realize what she meant. _Covering up_… She must know… She certainly was clever enough to figure it out… "Hermione, listen to me, please!" he had to raise his voice to be heard, "I can explain-"

And then Harry spoke, his voice crackling with emotion, "I trusted you! And all this time you've been his friend!"

"You're wrong," Remus almost grinned at how 'wrong' Harry was, but now was certainly not the time to catch the child on semantics. "I haven't been Sirius's friend, but I am now- Let me explain…"

She refused to give him breath to speak. "NO!" Hermione screamed. "Harry, don't trust him, he's been helping Black get into the castle, he wants you dead too- he's a werewolf!"

A stiff silence fell at her announcement. He had hoped that the circumstances would be slightly different when James' son discovered he was a werewolf. To that matter, he had hoped that Harry would never have to know. When he found his voice again, he managed to level his tone, "Not at all up to your usual standard, Hermione. Only one out of three, I'm afraid. I have not been helping Sirius get into the castle and I certainly don't want Harry dead…" The memory of his last transformation returned to him, clear as day, "But I won't deny that I am a werewolf."

Ron was attempting to stand, most likely to clear away from Black. He didn't make it far, and collapsed onto the ground, still bleeding heavily. Instinct took over, and Remus started forward. Ron was, after all, still one of his students.

"_Get away from me, werewolf_!" Ron yelled harshly, biting back the pain evident in his eyes.

His hand froze in midair. Clenching his teeth together, he withdrew his wand and closed his eyes. He had to forcibly remind himself that they were frightened, and did not yet know whom to trust. Inhaling deeply, he turned to the girl, "How long have you known?"

"Ages," Hermione whispered, her face pale. "Since I did Professor Snape's essay…"

"He'll be delighted." Of course. Snape. Who else would have tried to alert the students and therefore the parents that a werewolf was teaching their classes? "He assigned that essay hoping someone would realize what my symptoms meant… Did you check the lunar chart and realize that I was always ill at the full moon? Or did you realize that the boggart changed into the moon when it saw me?"

"Both."

The poor girl looked petrified, as if he might turn wolf right there and then, and bite her. He gave a curt laugh, both at her stance and their current situation, "You're the cleverest witch of your age I've ever met, Hermione."

"I'm not," Hermione whispered. "If I'd been a bit cleverer, I'd have told everyone what you are!"

"But they already know," he amended softly. "At least, the staff do."

"Dumbledore hired you when he knew you were a werewolf?" Ron gasped, "Is he mad?"

"Some of the staff thought so," he conceded, reminded abruptly of the hostility Snape had shown him the first day he had arrived at work. "He had to work very hard to convince certain teachers that I'm trustworthy-" Though Snape had not been the only teacher. While most of the teachers at the school were extremely open-minded, some were still wary about a werewolf roaming the halls.

"AND HE WAS WRONG!" Remus' thoughts were cut short by Harry interrupting him, "YOU'VE BEEN HELPING HIM ALL THE TIME!"

Remus opened his mouth automatically by now, but Padfoot left his side quickly to sit on the bed that remained in the room. He sank onto the mattress and rested his forehead in his hand. Remus saw that he was shaking, and for a short instant, a small flash of anger directed itself at Harry for making this so hard on Padfoot.

"I have not been helping Sirius," he said impatiently, his eyes on Sirius for the moment. "If you'll give me a chance, I'll explain. Look-" Perhaps if they felt that they held some power, they would at least give him a chance to speak. He took their wands and returned them to their owners, smiling wryly at their incredulous faces. "There," he said, replacing his own wand into its holster at his belt, "You're armed, we're not. Now will you listen?"

"If you haven't been helping him, how did you know he was here?" Harry cast a heated look at Padfoot, who still hunched over on the bed, that blasted orange cat purring on his lap.

"The map," he cocked an eyebrow at Harry. Surely Harry remembered that he had taken it. "The Marauder's Map. I was in my office examining it-"

"You know how to work it?" Harry burst out in shock.

"Of course I know how to work it," Remus confirmed, his hand flicking away the details as unimportant. He wasn't sure how much time they had until they were missed. "I helped write it. I'm Moony- that was my friends' nickname for me at school."

"_You wrote_-" Harry's jaw dropped.

"The important thing is, I was watching it carefully this evening, because I had an idea that you, Ron, and Hermione might try and sneak out of the castle to visit Hagrid before his hippogriff was executed. And I was right, wasn't I? You might have been wearing your father's old cloak, Harry-"

The child's face contorted amusingly, "How d'you know about the cloak?"

"The number of times I saw James disappearing under it…" Remus remembered one attempted trip up to the girl's dormitory under the cloak. Needless to say it had not succeeded. But that was a story for another time. It was important that Harry learned the truth right now. He cast his hand into the air again, clearing away the trivial facts. "The point is, even if you're wearing an Invisibility Cloak, you will still show up on the Marauder's Map. I watched you cross the grounds and enter Hagrid's hut. Twenty minutes later, you left Hagrid, and set off back toward the castle. But you were now accompanied by someone else."

"What?" said Harry. "No, we weren't!"

"I couldn't believe my eyes," he had the urge to sneeze and suddenly realized he was pacing. It didn't matter, but stirred the dust on the floor and made the air seem more stagnant. "I thought the map must be malfunctioning. How could he be here with you?" He was in his own train of thought again, and Harry's outburst couldn't reach him.

"No one was with us!" Harry yelled again, but Remus barely heard him.

"And then I saw another dot, moving fast towards you, labeled _Sirius Black_… I saw him collide with you; I watched as he pulled two of you into the Whomping Willow-"

"One of us!" Ron spoke up this time, and Remus glanced at the child, now across the room from him.

"No, Ron," he corrected gently, "Two of you."

Again, he cast his eyes over the Weasely. There was no sign at all of Wormtail, but he could possibly be in a pocket or some such… "Do you think I could have a look at the rat?"

"What?" Ron looked aghast. He had a right to be, Remus figured. The children were completely clueless as to what had happened. "What's Scabbers got to do with it?"

"Everything," he tried to keep the urgency out of his voice, he didn't want the children to panic again. "Could I see him, please?"

When Ron finally moved to pull the rat from his pocket, Wormtail emerged, clutched tightly by the tail. He was squirming viciously, and Remus stepped closer in order to confirm that it truly was him. He knew he shouldn't have trusted Sirius the instant something fell out of place with what the Ministry had said, but years of what they had shared was not easily swept away…

After a moment of close scrutiny, Remus realized he was holding his breath. He exhaled shakily, and Ron's voice broke the tense silence, "What? What's my rat got to do with anything?"

"That's not a rat," Padfoot finally spoke. Remus didn't turn to him; he could barely stand to see him so broken.

"What d'you mean- of course he's a rat-"

"No, he's not," Remus straightened away from Ron, his voice low in amazement. "He's a wizard."

"An Animagus," Padfoot added, "by the name of Peter Pettigrew."


End file.
